


Wyvern Riding 101

by Flutterbat



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Gift Fic, Happy Nagamas!, Lampshade Hanging, Learning to Ride, Nagamas, Nagamas 2019, Sister-Sister Relationship, Sisters, Wyverns, gift for speed-spark-time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 00:33:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21978199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flutterbat/pseuds/Flutterbat
Summary: “It’ll take forever to get to your new home on my pony,” Elise continued. “And Xander and Leo would never let me go alone so I’ll never get to see you.” She pouted. “Can’t you ask your husband to move his castle closer to the border?”Camilla smiled, almost sad. “I don’t think castles work like that…”***Camilla is moving away and the reality is that Elise isn't going to be able to see her so often. What are a pair of close sisters to do? Why, learn to ride a wyvern so you can visit more often of course!(Gift fic for Nagamas 2019 for speed-spark-time/queenpichu on Tumblr)
Relationships: Camilla & Elise (Fire Emblem)
Kudos: 14
Collections: Nagamas Gifts





	Wyvern Riding 101

Elise was perched on the end of Camilla’s bed, watching her sister intently.

Camilla was going through her wardrobes, sorting her possessions into ‘ _Keep_ ’ and ‘ _Give Away_ ’. Normally, Elise would have been thrilled at the idea of getting some of Camilla’s old items but today it was bittersweet. Camilla was packing to leave Krackenburg, to make a new home with the man she would be marrying in a few short weeks and although Elise was thrilled at the prospect of getting more family… she was in some ways quite devastated that Camilla wouldn’t be at home anymore.

While she still had her brothers, Xander was busy being King, Leo was busy being his Prime Minister (and was also… Leo) and Corrin’s visits from New Valla were sadly almost non-existent. Elise was truly delighted that Xander had agreed to her sister’s chosen match… but every so often the impending loneliness crept up on her and now was one of those moments - she couldn’t help but sigh. 

That meant that she hadn’t really been listening to anything Camilla had been saying and it had alerted her sister that something might be amiss.

“But I thought you liked this one, dear?” Camilla was holding up a sundress, and Elise could see that although she had been happily smiling, her expression was fading to concern. “You always said you wanted it for when you got a bit older… Darling, what’s the matter?”

“I do like the dress!” said Elise very quickly. “It’s lovely… but it’s just, well…” She pouted and then looked at the floor. Best to be honest. “I just… don’t want you to move so far away.”

“Oh Sweetheart,” said Camila and she put the dress down neatly on the back of her grooming chair and then sat down next to Elise on the end of the bed. Camilla put an arm around her sister and Elise nestled in, taking her her sister’s warmth and the smell of rose water and lilac that followed her everywhere.

“It’ll take forever to get to your new home on my pony,” Elise continued. “And Xander and Leo would never let me go alone. But they are both so busy too I’m afraid I’ll never get to see you.” She pouted. “Can’t you ask him to move his castle closer to the border?” 

Camilla smiled, almost sad. “I don’t think castles work like that…”

Elise sighed again.

Camilla frowned, she did not like to see Elise so sad. She thought quickly, what would cheer up her precious baby sister? Suddenly, it came to her: “It’s not so far by wyvern flight,” she said hopefully. “So if you ever want me to visit, I can just jump on Marzia and I’ll be here in a matter of days!”

Elise blew a raspberry. “But Camilla,” she said almost sullenly, “It’ll take _days_ to get a message to you that I want you to visit and then _days_ for you to get here AND you said that you want to be busy in the nursery as soon as possible so it’s not like you’ll be able to come and visit that often.”

Quiet descended on the sisters following Elise’s very sound logic. The suddenly it seemed to strike both of them:

“But I could ride a wyvern!” bubbled Elise.  
“You could ride a wyvern!” replied Camilla happily.

But, there were still a few minor details to work out, such as:

“Do you even know how to ride a wyvern, dear?”

“No…” said Elise. “But I’m sure I could learn! And it’ll be so much fun, I can fly to your new home whenever I want, and we can do things together and I can even help with your babies when they arrive!” She was throughly perked up. “You could teach me! It’ll be so much fun and a good excuse to have you all to myself before you go!”

Camilla chuckled. “That sounds wonderful darling, such a good idea. But we must remember to be polite and ask Xander first.”

“Oh,” said Elise pouting. “I guess we should. Leo will probably want to know too since I still have to live with him. Okay, I’ll ask them.”

***

Elise loved her brothers very much, but there were times that they could be very overprotective - they hadn’t wanted her on the battlefield at all, but when their father had insisted she received tutelage in something, Xander had put her forward for cleric training (which she did love to be fair) but kept an eye on her to ensure that things did not go much further, less she be put in unnecessary danger. Leo had eventually taught her a basic arcfire spell as the Silent War progressed but not much else. 

So she knew she had to have a strategy when putting the proposal to her brothers - and she had decided to dazzle them and leave before they knew what was happening. She had skipped into her Xander’s study during his report time with Leo, swung on her feet and casually said “SoCamilla’sgoingtoteachmewyvernridingIhopethat’sokaybigbrothersbye!” before grinning widely at them, They had both blinked at her in shock and Elise took that as a victory and turned to skip out while they were still digesting information. But she must have been too slow as she heard Leo laugh and snort, “Absolutely not!”.

Elise turned and stuck her tongue out at him and it looked like he was going to admonish her further but Xander cleared his throat and they both turned to look at him. 

Their older brother had furrowed his brow even further than it normally was, and then he looked at Elise directly cocking an eyebrow. “ _Why_ exactly do you need to learn to ride a wyvern?”

“So I can visit Camilla when she moves away!”

“What’s wrong with your pony?” 

“Nothing, she’s lovely but just a bit slow… I can get to Camilla so much faster on a wyvern!”

Xander hummed and then looked at Leo. The brothers shared _-a look-_ and then Xander spoke again.

“Very well. I appreciate you asking Elise, although I doubt my blessing would have made much difference.” 

Elise felt herself go a bit red. Truth be told… even if Xander had said no, she would have found a way. Her brother continued. “However, I will permit it in this instance. But there will be some caveats in place… you are only to be taught by Camilla and you will only learn flying techniques.”

“That means no axes or magic,” interjected Leo. “You don’t need to learn to fight.” 

“Really?! Yay! Thank you big brothers!” Elise bounced up to both of them and pecked both of their cheeks and she noted small, warm smiles creep over their lips. Normally she might have been annoyed about how they had been overprotective, but that was not the most important thing right now.

She turned to go for a second time, as she was going she heard Xander call out. “Do be aware though Elise, if you break those terms then we _will_ tell Camilla about your visits to lower Windmire.”

She gasped and turned startled to look at her brothers. “You… know about that?”

Xander picked up a tea cup and sipped it casually, and Leo was nonchalantly thumbing through a book. Their smiles had evolved into cheeky smirks. “Of course we do.”

***

Elise’s lessons started the next day. Camilla had instructed her to meet her in the castle eyrie, and she had been so excited, she had arrived at least half an hour early. Camilla hadn’t arrived yet, but Beruka had, probably setting out the gear for the lesson. 

As soon as the small princess walked in, Beruka bowed and then looked at her, blinking. 

“What are you wearing?”

Elise had worn her best tea dress. She looked down at her attire, and then back at Beruka. “I’m going Wyvern riding with Camilla, so I need to look good!”

Beruka was normally expressionless, but she could help but look surprised. “Lady Elise, but you can’t wear skirts and stockings on a wyvern. You’ll rub your legs raw and then you won’t be riding anything for weeks. You’ll need riding trousers.”

Elise pouted. “Camilla doesn’t wear riding trousers.”

Beruka went quiet. She looked around, as if checking for eavesdroppers before coming closer to Elise, like she was about to divulge something top secret. “Lady Camilla wears the finest riding trousers in Windmire. She has them made skin tight and flesh colours to distract her enemies.”

“Oh,” said Elise. 

“That information is top secret. If you tell anyone I will have to kill you, Lady Camilla’s sister or not.”

Elise gluped. Beruka had gained a little more humanity since the end of the war but her delivery was still deadpan and she wasn’t sure if she was entirely joking. “Oookay… thanks Beruka. I’m not sure I have any trousers though… does that mean I can’t ride?” 

Beruka narrowed her eyes. “It is my utmost duty to serve Lady Camilla and I know she was extremely excited to spend time with you here. It would be remiss of me as her first retainer to not ensure she could partake in her planned activities. Wait here.”

Beruka disappeared around a corner and then emerged moments later with a bundle of clothes. “This is a wyvern squire’s uniform. You should wear it for your lessons. There is a cupboard here where you can change, since there isn’t time to get back to your own quarters.”

“Thanks Beruka!” said Elise. Camilla’s retainer bowed again, and showed Elise where to go. 

***

When Camilla arrived at the eyrie, her eyes teared up. “Oh goodness Elise, look at you! You look so grown up in that uniform!” She scooped Elise up into an enormous hug and Elise had to wriggle somewhat to get free (and breathe). 

“I’m ready big sister!”

“Wonderful,” said Camilla. “The first thing we are going to is introduce you to the training wyverns. They can normally be quite …tempestuous… as a new rider you’d be bonded with an egg and you’d take care of the baby until fledging but we don’t have time for that at the moment.”

Elise found herself gulping again. “So… how, um, does it work with the training wyverns?” Her voice dropped and she almost whispered, “Are they going to eat me?”

Camilla laughed heartily. “Why of course not darling! Our eyrie master has been very good at picking out some of the more mild mannered wyverns and breeding them so their pleasant natures become a dominant trait. That way, in times of war when we need more wyverns in the sky, we can quickly we can get recruits trained up. Of course, it also means you can learn faster and visit me more often.” Camilla winked.

“Oh that is a relief!” said Elise and she found herself exhaling a breath she had subconsciously stored. “I can’t wait to meet them!”

*** 

The wyvern eyrie was huge and when Elise walked in with Camilla she gasped in wonder as she watched the winged reptiles hop and flutter from perch to perch.

Wide eyed, she breathily exclaimed, “This. is. incredible!”

As she did, one wyvern glided down and landed in front of Nohr’s princesses. It cocked it’s head to the side curiously and then made a noise that Elise could only think similar to a deep meow. 

Camilla had cooed at it and held out one of her hands, the wyvern looked at it and then nudged it’s head into it, encouraging pets and Camilla responded in turn by affectionally rubbing it’s forehead and then behind it’s cheek crests. “Here Elise, you try,” she called over, and Elise tentatively reached out her hand. The wyvern ignored Camilla for a minute and went to inspect Elise’s outstretched hand… and then it’s forked tongue popped out and it licked Elise’s hand. She giggled and the wyvern made another meow sound and flapped it’s wing a little. It then moved closer so it could get pets from Elise as well.

“That means they like you, darling. Looks like you are a natural!”

Elise didn’t say anything, she was grinning stupidly. These wyverns were nicer than even Xander’s cats… and she loved playing with his pets. Wyverns, she supposed, were just giant, scaly overgrown kittens.

***  
After the rush of the initial introduction, the next few lessons with Camilla were a little more mundane. Elise learnt about wyvern grooming, wyvern tack, wyvern behaviour, the history of wyvern riding in Nohr… all key things Camilla had insisted were important but they hadn’t even seen a wyvern since her initial introduction. That was a little disappointing but at least she got to spend time with her sister.

After the fifth day of theory, finally, Camilla said they were going back to the eyrie.

***  
True to her word, they went back and it was just as incredible as the first day Elise had walked in. The wyvern that had said hello to her fluttered down again and Elise started to pet it again. 

“Looks like you’ve made a friend, dear,” said Camilla. “I think he would make an excellent first partner for you.”

Elise tickled the wyvern under it’s chin. “What do you say boy? Fancy going for a ride with me?” The wyvern made it’s strange meowing sound again. “I think that’s a yes from him, Big Sister!”

“Wonderful,” said Camilla and she went over to a tack rack and picked up a bridle, followed by a basic saddle. “Now then, we’re going to gear up your wyvern as we learnt in the books. Do you remember what to do?”

Elise pouted as she tried to remember. Number one rule of wyvern care was to treat them with respect for they were intelligent beasts, so it was considered best practice to talk the wyvern through everything you wanted to do, and then show them the gear. So Elise took the bridle from Camilla and held it up, as one would a dress, and showed it to the wyvern. “I’m going to put this one you in a minute, so we can go flying together! This bit will go over your nose and I’ll do the buckle up here… and then it will be done. I promise it won’t hurt." The wyvern didn’t make a sound so Elise looked over at the sister and when Camilla nodded she started to put the bridle on. The wyvern didn’t object in any way which made Elise feel proud. Once the bridle was on, the wyvern got plenty of extra pets and then Elise did the same for the saddle, although Camilla had to help her, since it was heavy. 

The wyvern politely ducked down to make it easier, which Elise was grateful for and then once it was on, Camilla made a few adjustments to some of the straps. “That means it won’t take off when you get on,” she had said to Elise’s questioning look. 

Elise’s eyes widenend. “I’m getting on the Wyvern now?!”

Camilla chuckled. “Of course dear, my wedding is soon and you’ll be needing to visit, won’t you?”

Elise grinned. “Is it just like getting on my pony?”

Camilla nodded and helped give Elise a leg up. As she sat on the giant reptile’s back, Elise couldn’t help but feel elated. 

***  
The next day, Camilla attached a lead to the wyvern bridle and didn’t put the wing straps on. They gently encouraged the wyvern into the flying ring and Elise got on. Camilla showed her how to hold the bridle and then moved away so there was plenty of room. Elise then made a clicking sound with her tongue (as per Camilla’s theory lessons) and the wyvern spread its wings and took off… but it only hovered as Camilla safely kept hold of the training lead. It was more wobbly than her pony and Elise had to gather herself but it wasn’t long until she was comfortable. Camilla must have been watching because she held the wyvern steady and then called up, “Ready?”

“I am,” called back Elise and Camilla started to walk in a circle around the training area. The wyvern dutifully followed her, flapping slowing and it dawned on Elise that she was actually flying! After several circuits walking, Camilla began to jog and the wyvern sped up, which again made Elise a little unsteady but she was able to quickly get the hang of it. Being in the air… with her hair blowing in the breeze made Elise feel incredible and she lost herself in daydream, before Camilla called up, “Now lean forward to bring him down!” 

Elise did as instructed, bit it was only when she was nearly at the ground did she realise that… Camilla wasn’t holding the lead any more. When had she let go? Elise patted the neck of the wyvern and said Thank You, before hopping off and tying the wyvern to a tether post.

“That was amazing!” she squeaked and she flung herself into Camilla’s arms, while her sister was laughing. The sisters held each other tightly for a while, not really saying anything… just enjoying each other’s company. It was Elise that eventually broke the silence and she smiled at her beloved older sister before leaning her head on Camilla’s chest. “Thank you big sister, thank you so much! You know… suddenly Shirasagi doesn’t feel so far away anymore.”

Her sister didn’t say anything, but the affectionate squeeze told her everything she needed to know.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Nagamas to speed-spark-time! I hope you enjoyed this, I don't normally write just Camilla or Elise (or both of them together) so certainly had fun with it C:
> 
> I noticed that one of your other prompts had Camilla!Shiro in so I assumed you didn't mind that ship, so this one is written with that in mind as it provided a good catalyst but with enough squinting hopefully it could be ambiguous C:


End file.
